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Review of race is published

Mark Henry of the Green Party took part in Dublin Half Marathon in Donabate. A review into the the traffic chaos that occurred on the day has been published.

Mark Henry of the Green Party took part in Dublin Half Marathon in Donabate. A review into the the traffic chaos that occurred on the day has been published.

A RACE that caused traffic chaos in Donabate earlier this year will not take place at the same venue in 2018.

That was one of the recommendations of an independent review, published last week, to ascertain what went wrong at the Dublin Half-Marathon in Newbridge House and Demesne in September.

The event, which normally takes place in the Phoenix Park, caused major traffic disruption in the area which had huge implications for participants in the race and local residents.

The beginning of the race had to be delayed due to the major traffic delays and a large number of runners were left frustrated after failing to make it to the venue.

Fingal County Council and Dublin Race Series have pledged to implement the review’s recommendations. They both apologised at the time for what occurred and jointly agreed to conduct an independent review of the event.

The Dublin Half-Marathon Review has identified issues which occurred on

the day and has made a series of recommendations for future events organised by Dublin Race Series and Fingal County Council as well as those staged at Newbridge House and Demesne.

In a statement, Fingal County Council said the recommendations are designed to generally improve the overall planning and approach to events. These include:

• A baseline assessment of Newbridge House and Demesne, as a venue for hosting events, needs to be carried out.

• A longer lead-in period, with earlier deadlines for completion of Traffic Management Plans and Event Management Plans, needs to be implemented for future events.

• A protocol needs to be established for communication, clarification and sign-off for any changes to traffic management and traffic control plans.

• A Steering Group structure, chaired by a Senior Official in Fingal County Council, needs to be established to oversee similar large events held in Fingal.

• Below the level of the Steering Group, all ad hoc groups should be formed by the Steering Group with names, roles and responsibilities assigned and a reporting channel established.

• For events in Newbridge House and Demesne, which are likely to attract large crowds, a community liaison committee (CLC) needs to be established.

• A permanent slot on Joint Policing Committee Agendas for ‘major events attracting large crowds’ should be established.

• A review of the operational performance of each of the stakeholders for the Half-Marathon event should be conducted by each of them in order to identify areas where improvements can be made for future events of this type.

Chairman of Dublin Race Series, Jim Aughney, said: “We would like to apologise again to all runners affected by the delay on the day.

“This was the first year running the event at this location. We had a full and comprehensive traffic management plan in place.

“It is clear, however, that there were shortcomings and we will take on board the findings to improve the Race Series for 2018.”

Mr Aughney added: “We will revert to the Phoenix Park for the SSE Airtricity Half-Marathon in 2018.”

Fingal County Council chief executive Paul Reid, said: “We will take on board the learnings from this event and the recommendations from the review and use them to strengthen the planning and management of all our events.”

Meanwhile, Mark Henry, the Green Party representative for Swords and Donabate, described the review as “inadequate and disappointing”.

“The review should have concluded if Newbridge House is capable of hosting events like this or not,” said Mr Henry.

“Instead it calls for yet another review to be undertaken to answer that question.”

“I welcome the decision of the race organisers to revert to using the Phoenix Park for the 2018 Half-Marathon. That is the fairest outcome for race participants.

“It is clear that an awful lot of work is required if Fingal County Council are to host the race here again.”